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“The Crucible”: Inspiration and Reception

This media gallery explores the inspiration for and reception of The Crucible during the Hollywood Blacklist with videos from the American Masters film None Without Sin. The videos and support materials are best used during or after a reading of The Crucible. Using video, text, graphic organizers and text-dependent discussion questions, students will better understand the symbolism of The Crucible and why Arthur Miller was compelled to write the play.

Witches and CommunistsBegin the exercise with a conversation about allegories (reminder, an allegory is a story, poem or picture that can be interpreted to reveal a hidden meaning, typically a moral or political one). Discuss some examples of allegories (i.e. The Lord of the Flies symbolizing war in society) – or draw their attention to The Crucible if they have already read or have begun reading it. Watch the videos.

Then, distribute the “Are You Now or Were You Ever?” by Arthur Miller handout. Conduct a close reading as a class, in small groups or individually. The excerpts is lengthy and might require multiple readings and scaffolding for complete comprehension. Consider read it in smaller sections, summarizing the meaning as you read. Once students have an understanding of the content, lead a discussion about the comparison between witches and communists. Ask questions like:

How were witches characterized and treated during the Salem Witch Trials?

How were communists characterized and treated in America in the 1940s and 1950s?

How are witches and communists now viewed in retrospect?

What are the differences between the two groups?

How does Miller describe HUAC? How does he describe the people of Salem? Why does he argue that the two times were comparable?

Then, have your class write an essay, arguing whether Arthur Miller was right to pick 17th century Salem as a metaphor for the McCarthy Era.

Salem 1692 vs. Hollywood 1940s-1950sWatch the videos. Ask your class to further speculate why Arthur Miller picked the Salem Witch Hunt in 1692 to serve as the setting in his allegory. Use the “Salem 1692 v. Hollywood 1940s-1950s” graphic organizer to better understand this selection based on Miller’s fictional depiction of Salem in The Crucible. Have your class research and use historical evidence and information from the videos as a resource for the “Hollywood, 1940s-1950s” column. This organizer can then be used to inform an essay comparing the two time periods, to better inform the essay on witches and communists described above or to help facilitate a class discussion.

Direct them to the following quote found in the second to last paragraph of The Guardian piece: “I used to think, half seriously, that you could tell a dictator was about to take power, or had been overthrown, in a Latin American country, if The Crucible was suddenly being produced in that country.” Explore this. What are some ways that allegories allow for potentially controversial commentary in times of paranoia or high-tension? How does The Crucible do this?

“Because it is my name!”Watch the videos. Ask your class about how writing The Crucible may have influened Arthur Miller when he was eventually called before HUAC. Break the class into small groups. Provide them with the Excerpts from Arthur Miller’s testimony before the House Un-American Activities Committee and Excerpts from The Crucible. If possible, have one group of students “act out” (note: this can just be a read-a-loud) the testimony and another group “act out” the scene from The Crucible.

Then, have the small groups or individual students compare the play and the testimony. Remind your class that the play came out before Miller testified. Then, lead a class discussion about similarities between the speeches of Miller and Proctor, asking the class whether they believe that Miller was using the voice of Proctor to foreshadow his testimony. Talk specifically to Proctor’s refusal to sign his name to the testimony.